Kanawha County emergency officials say responders called to chemical plants will no longer enter the facilities unless they know what they're facing.

If plant personnel don't provide information about an incident, the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority says a staging area will be set up about a mile away until the nature of the emergency can be determined.

The new protocol is in response to an accident on Jan. 23 at DuPont's plant in Belle. A worker was exposed to phosgene and later died.

Ambulance personnel who responded to the accident said they didn't take safety precautions because they didn't know about the leak until they were inside the plant's gates.